Monday Night Losers, Dumping Drug Abusers

Monday night preview Well, I'm still glowing from my last prediction here in the Monday Night corner, where I called that St. Louis blow out of Atlanta. At any rate, this week's match-up pits an underachieving team against an even more underachieving team.

The Dolphins are coming off a devastating overtime loss in New England, while the Chargers registered their first win of the season in Cleveland. This one should be a low-scoring affair, as neither offense is very impressive this season.

Like every year, Miami has all the potential in the world, but just can't quite live up to it. This is a must-win for both teams, especially San Diego. If the Chargers lose more than two games the rest of the season, they will not make the postseason. With Miami favored by nothing more than a field goal, expect them to cover and right their ship.

Little kills Red Sox Wow, I haven't seen such a bad managerial decision since I selected team Bolivia in World Cup Soccer from EA Sports. What the hell was Boston manager Grady Little thinking when he chose to leave his ace Pedro Martinez in the game in the 8th inning of game 7?

Did he think that Pedro's surrendering back-to-back hits wasn't a big enough indication that he needed to be pulled? What was he waiting for? A telegram? Maybe we should have drawn him a diagram and then a map to the mound.

Poor Pedro, his machismo got the better of him when he told Little he could get the job done. It's Little's fault for not knowing any better, not Pedro's for wanting to gut it out. And why didn't Little trust a bullpen that had been unbelievable in the playoffs up until then? Unless he had a very sizeable wager on the other team, he screwed up royally. I was just fuming when I saw just what kind of fantastic job the relief did when it came in after the damage was done.

Shame on Little and shame on Red Sox management if they don't keep this team together for another shot at the can next season.

What happened to the Raiders? Hey, remember when the Oakland Raiders were a force to be reckoned with in the NFL? I sure do. Why, wasn't it this past January that we saw them reach the Super Bowl?

Now everyone is saying they're not getting the job done because they're all getting on in years. I find that hard to believe when they were awesome just last season. What's happening is that the rest of the NFL is finally realizing that Oakland can't throw a ball over 10 yards — ever!

Rich Gannon is an older player, but his skills didn't magically disappear after one season, they've just become predictable and manageable to the rest of the league. At any rate, with most of these players no longer falling into the 25-34 demographic, look for big changes at the end of the season. I would start releasing those big salaries right away. I would also say good-bye permanently to Jerry Rice.

Thrashers soldier on Okay, how good of a coach is Atlanta Thrasher bench boss Bob Hartley? Forget the fact that he won a Stanley Cup while with the Avalanche and forget the fact that Atlanta actually made a brief playoff run when he came over in the middle of last season.

He starts this season with the death of one of his players and the potential jailing of his number one star. What is the end result? Atlanta is off to their best start in franchise history! Is this guy for real? Not only does he keep everyone focused on the current season, but he has them all on the same page, playing pretty good hockey against some pretty good opposition.

The team's goals against average is hovering around two per game — that's a remarkable turnaround — all without leader Dany Heatley. Can we give him the coach of the year award now?

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